Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan Strat NOS

Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan Strat NOS review

The Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan Strat NOS is a Custom Shop signature model built around the artist's Stratocaster design. Its listed specifications include a selected alder body, a maple neck, a rosewood fingerboard, three hand-wound Texas Special single-coil pickups, and a left-handed vintage tremolo. The finish is described as NOS, or New Old Stock, and the guitar is finished in 3-Tone Sunburst. Fender lists a worldwide production run of 30 pieces.

This is a specification-based assessment. No customer reviews are available for this product, so there are no buyer reports to draw on for setup consistency, sound, playability, or long-term reliability. Those qualities cannot be confirmed from the supplied information alone.

Body, neck, and fingerboard

The body is made from selected alder, with no separate top listed. The neck is maple with a medium tint and a riftsawn construction. Its profile is identified as the SRV Oval C, a model-specific shape rather than a generic profile description. The fingerboard is rosewood, and its stated radius is 305 mm, approximately 12 inches.

The guitar has 21 jumbo frets. Fret size can affect the feel of bends and fretting pressure, but the specifications do not give fret dimensions or details about the fretwork. Buyers who have a strong preference for fret height or edge finishing should verify those details with the seller before purchase.

The scale length is 648 mm, or 25.5 inches. That is the familiar full-scale length used on many Stratocaster-style guitars. The provided data does not state the neck joint, nut material, nut width, or neck finish, so those construction details should not be assumed.

Pickups and controls

The pickup layout is SSS, meaning three single-coil pickups. Fender specifies three hand-wound Texas Special Strat pickups, with a reverse-wound, reverse-polarity middle pickup. The reverse-wound middle unit is a concrete part of the configuration, although the supplied data does not describe the noise level or tonal character of the pickup set in use.

The electronics use vintage wiring and a five-way switch. The listing does not provide a wiring diagram, potentiometer values, capacitor specifications, or a detailed explanation of the available switch positions. The named pickup set and wiring approach are useful reference points, but they do not establish how this individual instrument will sound through a particular amplifier or effects chain.

A black, three-ply pickguard marked "SRV" gives the control area a distinctive visual detail. The instrument's 3-Tone Sunburst finish and gold-plated hardware provide the rest of its stated appearance. No separate top is specified, so the finish should be understood as applied to the listed alder body rather than to an additional wood layer.

Tremolo, finish, and included items

The tremolo is described as vintage and left-handed. That specification is worth checking against the buyer's intended setup, especially if hardware orientation or replacement parts matter. The listing does not give details such as the number of tremolo springs, bridge saddle material, or factory setup.

NOS stands for New Old Stock. Here, it identifies the finish treatment; it should not be read as evidence that the guitar is an old instrument. The product has been available since July 2019, and its item number is 457282. Fender states that the worldwide run is limited to 30 pieces.

The package includes a Custom Shop Deluxe Tweed hard-shell case, a strap, and a certificate. The specifications separately confirm that a case is included and a bag is not. For a limited-run instrument at the listed price of 4,699, the case and certificate are useful parts of the package, though the supplied price data does not identify a currency.

Assessment

The strongest documented points are the limited 30-piece run, the selected alder body, the SRV Oval C maple neck, the rosewood fingerboard, and the hand-wound Texas Special pickup set. The instrument also has a clearly specified control layout, vintage wiring, a left-handed vintage tremolo, and gold-plated hardware. These details make the model's intended configuration easy to identify without relying on claims about sound or feel.

The available information leaves practical questions unanswered, including the nut width, neck joint, hardware specifics, factory setup, and measured weight. There are no customer reports to fill those gaps. The Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan Strat NOS is therefore best evaluated as a tightly limited signature instrument whose appeal rests on its documented Custom Shop specification and included case, strap, and certificate. Buyers should confirm the missing fit and setup details with the seller before ordering.